Why a Home Inspection is so important...

It was meant to be a straightforward renovation job.

Instead, Toronto resident Rocco Oppedisano’s quest to refurbish his basement last spring has sparked a months-long bureaucratic nightmare, with city building inspectors and his insurance company at odds over whether the city should be obliged to issue work orders to validate insurance claims.

The trouble began when a contractor tore down Oppedisano’s basement drywall and found mould, cracked walls and crumbling foundation footings — allegedly the result of a spate of slapdash renovations done sans building permit by previous homeowners in 2004.

Oppedisano said he and his pregnant wife worry their Junction home is “in danger of collapse.” Their insurance company, the Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO), is waiting on a city work order before it clears the claim for what Oppedisano said could be $100,000 in repairs.

The city refuses to issue the order.

“I’m extremely frustrated. I can’t move forward because I don’t know if the house is going to fall apart,” the 37-year-old IT project executive said, recounting his surprise when he saw the mould and holes in the wall, soil spilling out from gaps in the foundation.

The couple filed a title insurance claim — an insurance policy that covers property ownership and provides the owner with protection against certain losses or damages — with LAWPRO in April. They heard in June their claim was invalid without a work order, an official order (often issued by a municipality) requiring that repairs or other work be completed.

It’s a standard policy procedure for an insurance company to require a court order or a municipal work order before coverage is provided, said LAWPRO spokeswoman Dagmar Kanzlar. “They have to issue a work order. That’s just the way title insurance works.”Oppedisano hired two engineering firms to assess the house for unsafe conditions. Both reports confirmed structural damage. One noted loose footing bricks in the basement that were falling onto the floor and the “potentially unsafe condition” in the house.

But City of Toronto officials have pointed to the lack of proof of “an imminent, impending unsafe condition” at the house and have refused to issue the work order.

Mark Sraga, Toronto’s deputy chief building official, pointed to the department’s limited resources and said the city should not be required by insurance firms to supply work orders. “We’re not there to facilitate insurance claims. We’re there to do what we’re required to do and to protect the public.”

Sraga added that insurance companies shouldn’t be “shifting the burden” to city inspectors to verify claims. “That is not fair for insurance companies to do that.”

But for Kanzlar, “the issue here is the city. From an insurance perspective, this is a really straight factual argument. The City of Toronto is unusual in that it will not issue work orders. . . . Unless you have to totally condemn the house, they won’t do it.”

Meanwhile, Oppedisano said city inspectors have stopped returning his phone calls. They have yet to visit his basement.

The Toronto Star
Niamh Scallan      
Staff Reporter